title: Health information in the Arab world.
abstract: Availability of online health information in the Arab world is growing rapidly, as well as the demand for it. Today, the Arab health consumer is searching for health information that is in Arabic and is culturally relevant. The purpose of this paper is to document the various initiatives around the development of online health information in the Arab world. The paper highlights the status of online health information in Arab counties with a specific focus on Saudi Arabia. A comprehensive search of both academic and gray literature was conducted in October 2012. Google Scholar, PubMed, the Google search engines were searched. Results show that there has been an increase in the number of health information websites being created in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Examples of some these initiatives are discussed. Future challenges to the growth of health information content in the Arab world are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: National Guard Health Affairs, Information Services Department, Jeddah.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aldabbagh
authors.forename: Khlood
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alsharif
authors.forename: Mowafa S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Househ
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D008877:Middle East; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D057386:Search Engine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*